Notes to a Song That Was Lost on the Wind
by cryptically
Summary: Kurogane-centric drabbles, some KuroTomo, based on Donne's "Song". Off to catch a falling star, garden, deal with the unfairnesses of time and space, and slice and dice his enemies at any opportunity, Kurogane's got his work cut out for him. ::Spoilers::
1. Go and Catch a Falling Star

_stanza I, line I_ : **Go and Catch a Falling Star**

:

"So, the fish people say that some crazy-ass falling star hit their lake and set the waters into an imbalance?"

Sakura nodded.

"And that this star is actually your feather, but they don't know that?"

She nodded again.

Kurogane ran a hand through his hair.

"Alright, then." This was the part where he took over. Talking with inanimate things and find out the trouble: Sakura. Coming up with a goofy, overly elaborate plan to surmount their not-so-difficult difficulties: Fai. Placate the creatures while the plan went into motion: Syaoran. Actually do the damn thing: Kurogane.

"Ah!" She called to him as he approached the murky water. "Kurogane-san, I asked the mermaids if they would let someone in, but they sounded like they might not like you visiting them..."

He shrugged. A lot of people he came to didn't like him visiting them. They learned to deal with it pretty quick.

"So, you're absolutely certain the feather's in there, right?" He asked, one last time. No way was he taking a fun trip down to underwater-land if he could avoid it.

Fai called back instead. "Saa, it's our best bet. Most of this world is water and the nation of merpeople control pretty much the entire thing. If it fell in the water, then chances are it's ended up somewhere down there."

Tsh. Damn fish people. They could at least throw the stupid thing out of the water instead of letting it sit around down there.

He glanced back at the shore. They were lucky that one of them had learned how to swim. Two kids from a desert world, a magician that had spent his days locked in a castle, in a pool, apparently...

"Hey! Why the hell aren't you doing this?" He yelled angrily back at Fai.

"You offered so sweetly, Kuro-rin! I just couldn't refuse you your fun! Besides, " he pointed out, "you're already half in."

Damn it.

Kurogane waded into the water further, squinting unhappily at the surface. He'd left his cape on the shore, but had taken Sohi along with him. He could just about make out a light, blurred by the dank layer of film that covered the lake, somewhere deep below. Alright, he had his target.

As he dove in, he hoped that the fish people didn't give him too much trouble, for their own sakes. He smiled wickedly, eyes still closed. After all, he hadn't gotten to make sushi in a long time.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

This is just a series of drabbles, some KuroTomo, about Kurogane that follow John Donne's poem, _Song_. It's one of my favorites, and I felt like it suited him. Enjoy!

--cy.


	2. Get With Child a Mandrake Root

_stanza 1, line 2_ : **Get With Child a Mandrake Root**

:

Mud had worked its way underneath his nails, griming his shoes and his grip on the weapon. They should have known there was no escape. A little rough terrain had never been a problem for him to surmount.

He grinned, and prepared to make the final strike.

"Kurogane-san, do you need another bulb?"

Kurogane's expression soured and his shoulders slumped, as he held the trowel poised above the ground, ready to deliver the killing blow to the neat hole he'd just finished digging. Oh come on. Sometimes, he had to be allowed to have his fun.

Besides, it's not like this whole project wasn't just their idea of fun anyway.

"Come along, Kuro-pon, pick up the pace! Remember, we promised the townsfolk that we'd have their garden repaired by evening."

Kurogane glowered and snatched the bulb from Syaoran.

You'd think that once in a while he'd get a break. But no. Even though he'd been the one to single-handedly stop the burglarly, since he'd been the only person awake that late, he didn't get any breaks. So, he'd trampled on someone's flowers in pursuit. Hell, he'd have thought they would have been more grateful to have their stuff back, not angry at the destruction of their garden.

Tsh. No priorities, he muttered.

They were done on this world, why couldn't try just leave already? It wasn't like they would ever see these people again.

A girl with violet eyes and long, black hair came up to them, passing out sandwiches. The likeness was uncanny. Well, maybe not _exactly_ the same people. But yeah, he had a feeling that he'd be seeing them more.

"Here you go! Thanks for fixing this before you left." She said, and he half expected her to add a ohoho, even though he knew it was impossible. But coming from_ that_ voice...

"Hey, Kuro-tan, hurry up! These people want their garden done." Fai said, munching a sandwich.

"You're not even working!"


	3. Tell Me Where the Past Years Are

_stanza I, line III :_: **Tell Me Where the Past Years are**

:

They'd spent more time in Fei Wong's little world than he'd thought. But it was over. Over, at last, and he could finally come back home.

He rushed the doors of Shirasaki, ready to put all of his grand plans into action.

"Where's Tomoyo-hime?" He demanded of the nearest person he could find, an older looking man in long robes. The man did not seem to want to be disturbed and brushed him off. Kurogane, though, was persistent.

"Tell me already. Why isn't she here?"

He hadn't even needed to search the palace. He could tell just by stepping inside. It was odd, he thought, that bond, like a warm string typing one to the other seemed so faint, so distant...how long had he been away? Surely she hadn't--?

Eventually, the man gave in. He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Ah, so you're that young man she was waiting all this time for. Well," he said stoically, "she's out in the courtyard."

Was? Did that mean that she had stopped waiting for him? Had she married someone, had he been away that long? And if she was in the courtyard, why hadn't he been able to sense her presence? Damn, this whole thing made no sense.

When he came into the garden, he found no one there. Kurogane stopped short, a chill coming over his body as he looked around. Had that old man just been joking around with him? No, that couldn't be it...

Then, the small stone platform came into view. It was dark against the bright spring day, and cherry blossoms had swept across it, though from the polished look of the black onyx, it was well-taken care of. Kurogane walked toward it, curious, something in his heart weighing heavy with dread. He'd never seen that in here before.

So many things had changed. But as long as Tomoyo was still--

And then he realized what it was.

A grave marker.

Elegant, but not obtrusive. Quiet, but dignified. The writing described her as a beloved priestess, who carried the best wishes of her country with her. His mouth grew slack, and he found himself knelling before it, thinking that the placement couldn't have been better, some place where the moon's light could easily touch.

"There you go. That's what you get for keeping her waiting, you scoundrel."

Kurogane jolted to his feet. "Tell me how it happened."

The man turned away. "How does anything happen to royals these days? Sometimes, the right person isn't there at the right time and some fool with an arrow just gets lucky."

Kurogane didn't notice when the man left. He carefully swept the petals off the stone, and stared at the inscription for a long while. So she had been waiting this whole time, waiting for him to come back when each day it became more of a lie. And then, because he hadn't been there, she'd--

The night darkened overhead, and he was still there, now waiting to join her.

"You called?"

The Space-Time witch was looking out at him from a circle of moonlight, reflecting off the grave. Kurogane stood. He kept his promises, and this would be one he saw through no matter what.

"I want to make a trade."

Yuko smiled. "Turning back time for a single world isn't going to come cheap."

He nodded. He understood that when he had called. He was willing to pay

"But, first," she glanced contemplatively at his surroundings, "answer me this: tell me where the past years are."

He choked back a laugh. Was she serious? "They're everywhere. The little places you forget to look, the moments you half-forget, and they just keep building up until you lose track of them all. They never really go away, you just don't see them anymore because you've forgotten how to."

You just don't see them again until you realize that they've stopped coming, he said to himself as the winds once more whipped him away, back to a place where he would make another trade, and then off to another moment, a moment when he _would_ make it in time.

No matter what the cost.

--

Princess Tomoyo was in her chambers when she heard the shouts. Without her dreams and without the best of her guards, she had wondered when this day would come, when her forces would fail, and when the perpetually besieged Shirasaki would no longer be her stronghold.

The arrow came from the window, the glass breaking with its impact, but she didn't feel anything. She wondered a moment if this was some bizarre pre-death or post-death feeling, but once she heard someone cry, "The bastard's charging the gate!" her eyes flew open.

The window was broken, shards lay sprayed about the room, but she hadn't been shot. Perhaps the arrow had gone astray? Had the archer really been so unlucky?

"Heh...Told you I'd come back."

There, on her floor, an arrow piercing his chest, was the man she'd been waiting all this time for.

A shout drifted up through the broken glass: "Got him!" Cheers rose.

"About time," Kurogane said softly, trying to get up but gasping at the pain. Damn, that witch had been serious when she'd said it would hurt like hell.

"You--" Tomoyo started, a sentence leading off to a million different endings. You idiot, why did you do that? You shouldn't have done this to yourself. You've been away so long and now you're-- "You were just in the nick of time." She finished. He grinned, painfully.

"When am I not?" He asked, eyes shining and chest heaving. "Wasn't that what I promised you all those years ago? To always be there just before the blow struck, always guarding you?" His eyes narrowed playfully, wearily. "You better not have forgotten."

"I..." She threw her arms around him. "I missed you so much!"

He smiled. "I tried to get here sooner, but..."

_"You won't have much time. As soon as you enter, the archer will be in the tree, ready to aim."_

_"Damn it." His hands clenched into fists.  
_

_"You said you'd pay any price."_

"You're here now," she said, tears in her eyes. "And that's what matters."

The black fabric of his shirt was sticky with blood. He'd left his armor in Mokona, and the manjuu had gone with Fai, off to let him keep traveling worlds. He could have laughed, if his chest hadn't hurt so much. The world really was a funny place. A bitch, but a funny place. Who would have known that a pork bun would have saved his life? He certainly wouldn't have believed it.

"Tomoyo, there's something I have to tell you," His voice became hoarse with the words. Damn, not now, not when there would never be another chance to say it-- "I want you to know I'll always keep my promises." He swallowed, forcing the lump in his throat down. "Always."

Later, she found a note tapped to the inside of Ginryuu. It wasn't very eloquent, and it sounded a little rushed, but it reflected the personality of its writer. It said what he hadn't been able to, in the tiny, cramped kanji that had always been his trademark:

_I love you._


	4. Or Who Cleft the Devil's Foot

_stanza I, line IV :_: **Or Who Cleft the Devil's Foot**

:

"You shouldn't get too close, princess. You've seen the destruction he caused across this country. It would be unwise--"

"Hush. If my sister wants to do so, allow her. She has seen more in dreams of this, and she knows the dangers she risks."

"Very well, Your Imperial Majesty."

A small figure left the train of cavalry and made its way through the brush and bramble, toward a shining light pining something to a tree. She knelt, spoke, and then the boy, the thing that had ravaged the lands of Suwa through the dark of night, broke.

They brought the boy's prone form back to the carriages, along with the cold body of--

"This was his mother?" A guard asked, disbelief etched on his features. "Dragging the dead around without giving them rest, what a monster..."

"Silence."

The shining light faded, his hand was bandaged and healed, but there was always something discordant with him from that night after. Something that could not heal, and was doomed to remain hewn in two from that time onward.


	5. Teach Me to Hear the Mermaids Singing

_stanza I, line V :_:** Teach Me to Hear the Mermaids Singing**

:

"Ah, isn't it nice? Just having this whole beach to ourselves, no one to bother us..."

"Hey."

"The entire day for lounging around! Hyuu, we've needed this for a long time, don't you think, Syaoran-kun?"

"Hey!"

"Uh, Fai-san, I think Kuroga--"

"And not a care in the world. Ah, how wonderful."

"Mokona thinks its wonderful, too! Mokona just doesn't want sunburn!"

How the hell would that thing get sunburn under all that fur? It should be more worried about heat stroke, or maybe dehydration. Kurogane wondered where they came up with a name like that. Dehydration. Syaoran had tried to explain that there was a prefix attached to the word for water, but Kurogane saw it a different way. "De" mean get rid off, and "hydra" was a monster that had a ton of heads. So, getting rid of hydras. Simple.

He was still a little put out that he'd never gotten to face a hyrda-type oni in Oto, but supposed that with all these worlds before him, he was bound to run into one somewhere.

Abruptly, he realized that he was losing track of the conversation. No one expected him to get lost in thought, they were completely sure that he absorbed every words that they said, and that he watched everything for signs of danger. Well, the second part was true.

And had they been attacked? No. So, no reason to disillusion them.

"And I bet Kuro-moo just wants to go swimming!"

"No way in hell!" He spat. "Have you forgotten that we have a job here?"

"Saa, the feathers? We're getting them, Kuro-bun, we're getting them." The wizard relaxed, stretching out in the sun. "But for now, I think we deserve a  
break."

A break? When they had hundreds of worlds to go through?

"You've got to be kidding me."

But, no, he wasn't. This world apparently had a renowned resort town, and they hadn't landed too far away. Kurogane couldn't believe it. What sort of mission were they on? Didn't they understand how many hundreds, no, thousands of feathers to took to put together a pair of wings? For a small bird, maybe they had enough, but for a person?

Yeah, right. They'd finish collecting feathers when they reached middle age if they kept this rate.

But, there was nothing he could do. He even tried to hijack the pork bun and get it to use its talents for him, but it refused.

"Fai! Kurogane's trying to kidnap Moko-mmph!" Hell, even when he put a hand over its mouth it still managed to be annoying.

Much to his surprise, when he actually explained his intentions, the manjuu agreed. They spent a good chunk of the day going through the streets of what he later found out was called Azure City, and turned up nothing. Mokona was more than willing to hit the beach, and Kurogane found himself exhausted and a little dry in the mouth.

"My, Kuro-bun, you look dehydrated!"

He groaned. Damn it! He couldn't be expected to fend off a hydra in these conditions! And just when he got the chance, too... He was just about to ask where it was when Fai interrupted his thoughts.

"Here, have a drink."

The wizard handed him something before he could refuse. Kurogane took it begrudgingly, and surveyed the horizon for any sign of many-headed monsters. He didn't find any, which was comforting and also a little disappointing. Tsh. Trust that damn mage to get him all excited for nothing.

The mage in question was currently staring out at something across the water, to that point of the ocean when the sea met the sky and dissolved into it. Clouds unswirled in a delicate twirl above them, pink- and yellow-bathed shapes in the pale blue of the arcing heavens. Fai sighed, and a lazy look developed in his eyes, as he whispered things to himself.

"And I have heard the mermaids singing each to each."

"What?" Kurogane asked, rather ruining the mood of the wistful male against a sunset.

"You know what comes next after that, Kuro-run?"

Kurogane gave him a funny look. "You just said that you heard mermaids singing. So what, you going to join them?"

Fai shook his head. "Guess you don't know Prufrock, then." He smiled sadly to himself. "You probably wouldn't like it."

Rolling his eyes, Kurogane sat on a rock next to the magician, watching the waves crash against the shore. Okay, so they weren't really crashing. More like, tamely flowing against the soft sand. He sighed. Damn it, nothing in this town was ferocious. Mokona bounded off to go get ice cream with Syaoran and Sakura, while Kurogane was still thinking about what Fai had said.

When they had gone, he was curious.

"So, you can hear mermaids singing?"

Fai looked at him askance for a moment, wondering where on earth that comment had come from, and then shrugged. "Yeah. Comes with being a magician and all."

Kurogane's eyes narrowed. "I thought you couldn't use your magic, though."

"Don't have to." He winked. "Aren't I always telling you that there are many different kinds of magic? There are so many kinds...so many that I always wonder why they just don't jump out at people all the time. If anyone really looks, really scours everything they see for magic, they're bound to find some sometime. But," he shrugged again and let his sentence trail off.

Kurogane was silent for a moment, and then pressed him further.

"But, the mermaids. Are they saying anything interesting?"

Smiling to himself, Fai made like he was listening to the ocean, closed his eyes and let the breezes whip past him, ruffling his white-blond hair. "Mmm. Not very interesting."

"What?"

"They're saying that a princess from another world has fallen into their waters and might need rescuing!"

Kurogane bit off a curse. Damn it, couldn't Sakura stop falling asleep at crucial moments? He grabbed his cape, having discarded it in the day's heat, and was stalking off to go find the unlucky pair, when all of a sudden, Fai burst into laughter.

Kurogane was not amused.

"Dammit! Don't joke about things that could happen like that!"

He sat back down.

"You're completely unreliable. Now teach me how to hear them, so I don't have to listen to you make stuff up."

And for once, Fai D. Flowright did not know what to say.


	6. Or to Keep Off Envy's Stinging

_stanza I, line VI _: **Or to Keep Off Envy's Stinging**

:

He glared at the kid who'd making eyes at Tomoyo like that had been his business. Tsh, he thought, eying the boy in the crowd as Tomoyo delivered a speech about the upcoming Dragonfly race. Okay, yeah, she had a major corporation that she ran in this world, and maybe she was the most powerful person there, too, but that was certainly no reason for that kid to--

"Kuro-tan, we need to get to practicing now." Fai flicked the switch off on the TV and the ninja frowned. "You can't keep watching commercials about her all day, you know. You have to get out and make her notice you!"

Kurogane's eyes widened. That made sense. There wad no use in sitting around, plotting how to break through her guards' defenses, when what he really ought to be doing was winning her favor by taking the race by storm. An even more shocking thought hit him. Had Fai actually given him worthwhile advice for once?

No, it couldn't be. Surely, there was some mistake. But, still, the mage had seen how he'd been glued to the TV (once he'd bullied Mokona into showing him how to use the remote) going through station after station just to get to the commercials, just to see--

He frowned. Had he been that desperate? Fai was right. He needed to use his energy to do something more productive.

He was on the verge of thanking the magician, when the pork bun ruined it all.

"Is Kurogane going to race now?"

"Yup!" Fai replied. "He's so lovey-dovey about Tomoyo-chan that he's going to win the race to prove his affection!"

"Oh, how romantic!" The pork bun chimed. "Kurogane has a girlfriend!"

"SHUT UP! That's not it at all!" He yelled, a blush creeping up his face as he chased the manjuu and wizard through the house at top speed, while they chanted, "Tomo and Kuro, sitting in a tree..."

"Since when were you allowed to call her Tomo?"

"Oooh, look at him! He won't deny that he's in love with her!"

"Kuro-min is so cute when he's mad!"

"STOP SAYING THAT!"

Syaoran opened the door, his hands full of groceries that he'd picked up on his way back from the machinery store. He took one glimpse at the scene inside: the spatula-wielding ninja chasing the puff ball, which was riding and giggling on the magician's head. Syaoran shut the door, deciding he was better off not knowing, and took the groceries back outside.

Adults could be so _weird_.


	7. And Find What Wind Seeks to Advance

_stanza I, line VII :_: **And Find What Wind Seeks to Advance an Honest Mind**

:

"Where next?" He muttered, annoyed with the townspeople just as much as they were annoyed with him. Yeah, so he tended to destroy things when he came to new places. That was his job, wasn't it? Show these people that they didn't take no for an answer, get the feather, and move on. Only the moving on part didn't seem to be happening. "Come on, this is supposed to do its light thing and then we leave."

"Um, Kurogane-san?" Sakura hazarded, glancing around her as the curators and guardians of the artifact moved closer, cutting off their escape routes. "I don't think that's the right feather."

He looked down at her, his face unreadable. "You sure?"

She looked at it again, and then nodded. The blue feather in its glass box glowed faintly, but nothing more happening.

Kurogane sighed.

"Can't you do something to make it work? You know, some of your magical empathy whatever and just make it _believe_ it's your feather?"

She shook her head. "I think it's probably better if we give it back to them. They look pretty angry."

He sighed. Damn it, he hated having to give up in the middle of a good fight. Granted, the fighting part hadn't exactly been the most exhilarating thing he'd ever experienced. The guards had gone down pretty quickly when he took them out from behind, allowing him to easily slip into the sanctum and snag the prize. They'd been calling it the "feather of truth" or something.

Hell, it was a feather. They worshiped it or something, said it had come from another world. Not hard to put the pieces together on that one.

They met up with Fai, Syaoran, and Mokona at the constable's house. Fai and Mokona were about the only ones that seemed cheery. Syaoran looked like someone had slapped him when he heard that two of his companions had been apprehended stealing a historic relic.

Once thoroughly assured that Sakura had not had too much of a part in it, the kid faced down the ninja. Kurogane was mildly amused.

"Kurogane-san, you can't just drag Sakura-hime along with you whenever you feel like it to go steal things. I know you had good intentions, but--"

"I was testing a theory, kid." Kurogane shrugged. "It didn't turn out to be the kind of feather we were looking for." Who'd have known that this one little world would be so full of meaningful feathers?

Fai observed the tense silence between the two that followed before interceding.

"Well, you two, I think we've all learned an important lesson here."

"And what in hell's name is that?" Kurogane spat. Syaoran seemed to share the sentiment, though he didn't quite express it so colorfully.

"Oh! I think I know!" Sakura volunteered.

Fai graciously inclined his head to her. "Go right ahead, then, Sakura-chan."

"'Don't judge a book by its cover'," she stated, proud of herself, "Right, Fai-san?"

The wizard pursed his lips, thinking. "I had something more like 'You can't see the forest for the trees' or maybe 'All that is gold does not glitter'," he shrugged and gave the girl an endearing pat on the head. "But yours sounds good, too, Sakura-chan!"

"How the hell are those supposed to relate to our current situation at all?"

Syaoran scratched his head. "I hate to admit it, but I'm also kind of confused about how yours work fit, too, Fai-san."

Mokona hopped up and down on Fai's head. "Mokona isn't confused! It all makes sense to Mokona!"

"You see?" Fai said, smiling.

Kurogane had a smile on his face, his voice going dangerously low. It looked like he was reaching his breaking point. "I'll bet you just picked those randomly, didn't you?"

The magician gave him a disproving look. "Of course I didn't do that, Kuro-rin! I picked them because they sounded pretty."

And with that, Kurogane snapped.

The constables came in later to find an angry ninja chasing a small, white animal of sort of and the blond man around the holding cell. The girl appeared to be fretting and trying to get them to stop, insisting that they'd get hurt, while the boy, looking wearied by all the excitement, was speaking in soothing tones and assuring her that she would be much better off just letting them work things out their own way.

One of the officers sucked in a slow breath and let out a low whistle. "Looks like we have our work cut for us, doesn't it?"

The other, an older man with grey hair sighed, and left. "Just get them to the booking room in one piece."


	8. If Thou Be'st Born to Strange Sights

_stanza II, line I :_: **If Thou Be'st Born to Strange Sights**

:

"It's right here." Fai said, tapping a spot on the wall.

Syaoran nodded, accepting the expertise of a magician over his own, limited experience with things of this nature. Kurogane, though, wasn't buying it. As far as he was concerned, these two were only a little better than strangers, and he wasn't going to trust anything so blindly.

"How do you know?" He challenged. He certainly couldn't feel anything. How should that other guy know any better? Kurogane hadn't seen him perform any magic, let alone anything that would affirm that he could even cast spells. Yeah, he claimed he had brought himself to the witch's garden, but did they know for sure?

There was something about him, Kurogane concluded, that wasn't quite right. Something this Fai person was hiding, didn't want any of them to find out about...

Well, he smiled to himself, he was pretty good at finding out things that people would rather keep under wraps. He _was_ a ninja, after all.

The blond-haired man glanced over at him, and, as proof, closed his eyes and lay his hand on the spot he'd pointed out. At once, Kurogane felt something sweep through the room, an invisible force pulling past them, scraping at the walls and flowing, inexorably toward Fai, who smiled, caught in the tumult.

"Oh," he said, "I'm sure. Call it a magician's guess."

There was something in the way he smiled that set Kurogane on edge more than the magic had. Things were getting stranger and stranger, and Fai D. Flowright was someone he'd have to keep an eye on, no matter how close friends they might become.


	9. Things Invisible to See

_stanza II, line II :_: **Things Invisible to See**

:

He doesn't put much stock in magic and never has. He prefers the cold steel of a blade and the certainty that it provides any day.

But, that still doesn't explain why he's able to sense her like this, know when she passes from room to room, as though she's a golden firefly in a dark night...

It's training, he tells himself. He knows what identifies a human, the signs, the disturbances of the air, the warmth of breath. There are signs that he sees and associates with people, sometimes before his mind even realizes that he's doing it. That doesn't make it magic.

But how can he always know where she is?

That's his job isn't it? He wouldn't be doing it right if he didn't always have some idea of where the one he must protect all the time is. There's no extrasensory crap about it. He just knows.

Even when he's been away, out to defend the borders, travel the worlds, or asleep, he always knows.

It bothers him, sometimes, when he can't explain it, can't quite pinpoint what it is about her that keeps her so tied to him that he feels her presence even when they're in opposite ends of the same castle. Is it because she knows his true name? Perhaps. But maybe it's something else, or maybe--

Hell with it. Enough with the unsureness crap. So he knows where she is all the time. He's sworn to do that.

But he always wonders, if it had been anyone else who was his master, would he always feel the same about her?

It's one of those question he feels better not knowing the answer to.


	10. Ride Ten Thousand Days and Nights

_stanza II, line III :_: **Ride Ten Thousand Days and Nights**

:

Horses. Finally, they came to a world that had a modicum of sense in its travel arrangements.

"Ah, Kuro-bun! Look at all the pretty horses!"

Kurogane snatched the map that the magician had been waving around and looked over it. Local lore said that a phoenix had made its home in the desert cliffs above the ridge, and that one of its feathers was different from the others, magical. And so, following the typical procedure whenever a reports of something mysterious was turned up, the group set out to find it.

"Kurogane-san, they all look so nice and friendly!" Sakura laughed, as a stallion nuzzled her with its head. Syaoran kept quiet but gave a small chuckle when a horse's head bumped him as well.

Kurogane, though, frowned. It wasn't because he disliked horses; on the contrary, he thought that they were the most efficient and least traumatizing way to travel (except maybe for the dragonflies-- those had been pretty fun once you learned not to fall out of the sky while riding one). It was the sentiment behind the statement that irked him.

They'd tried taking a roadtrip once, since he had found that his dragonfly's controls were similar to that of a car. However, not only did they end up lost, attacked by bugs, and tired, he'd also found that his body, not being used to the high speeds and bumpiness of the roads, got very ill when traveling very long.

"Kuro-run will do better on a horse, I'm sure of it!"

Kurogane's eyes narrowed at Fai over the edge of the map. Tsh. Someday they'd thank him for making sure that they didn't up riding ten thousand days and nights looking for the damn feather. His stomach churned at the thought.

"Let's just ride already." He replied, to all of them, and mounted his horse (a black stallion, no surprise there) in one fluid swing. He glanced back, his anger mollified as the other three experienced difficulty getting into their saddles. He urged his horse into a light trot effortlessly, quite pleased with himself for the days he'd spent learning to ride back in Nihon.

"Come on! Don't go so slow or this'll take forever."

"Ah, Kurogane is so mean!"

"Shut up, pork bun."


End file.
